A group of researchers at Imperial College London recently cross-referenced a
couple of studies on heart health and have made an interesting recommendation to
fast food outlets: rather than fries, each order should come with a free statin
drug. A dose of statins, they reason, reduce heart attack risk to about the
same degree that a cheeseburger and shake raise the risk. In effect, the two
should neatly cancel each other out.

In a paper recently published in the American Journal of Cardiology, the
researchers point out that it's somewhat backward that fast food restaurants are
giving away stuff that's horrible for you but that statins generally require a
prescription. The cost of statins has fallen sharply in recent years such that a
small statin dose would cost the vendors about the same as a packet of ketchup.

The research team came to this conclusion after examining data from a large
cohort study quantifying how an individual's heart attack risk is affected by
their daily intake of fats and trans fats, which are more or less the backbone
of much fast food. They then compared that with data from several controlled
statin trials that quantified the decreased risk for heart attack associated
with many statins. They determined a single statin can pretty much cancel out
the classic burger-shake combo.